June Song Of The Month: Limehouse Blues

MikeK · June 2023

Coincidentally, as I was considering this standard for song of the month, an interesting discussion erupted on the forum about soloing over challenging chord changes. That thread shined the forum light on this song, so look to that for great information from our knowledgeable members about soloing ideas on this one.

It was composed in 1921 in Britain by Philippe Braham (music) & Douglas Furber (lyrics). Evidently, Limehouse is the Chinatown of London, and the song premiered in 1921 in the show "A To Z", with Teddie Gerard singing it.

Django first recorded it in October of '35 and there's a link to that classic version below. He recorded it 5 times between '35 & '40. From show tunes to jazz standards to pop versions, so many great artists have recorded it over its 100+ year lifespan. Notable versions include those by Oscar Aleman, Kay Starr, John Jorgenson, and Bucky Pizzarella with Frank Vignola.

I dont particularly enjoy playing it super fast, as some guys play it in my area. It's too hard to get an idea going before you have to move on to something else. The joy for me in soloing over these changes is to slow it down a bit. But either way, it's a gypsy jazz classic with a great melody. And of course Django & Steph blaze on it, despite the intense speed. I'll post the chart that my band uses later.

https://youtu.be/HsTTEhThRQU

pdg · June 2023

Some GJ hopefuls (!) don't play Limehouse Blues so fast. E.g., here's Bireli playing Limehouse at about 210 bpm one time, and 180 bpm another time:

https://youtu.be/nDlFZQPdaWc

https://youtu.be/tJxAupc0KAE

Teddy Dupont · June 2023

The first HCQ version was taken at a very leisurely pace but it still swings like mad. Django's creativity is way ahead of Steph's on this version.

https://youtu.be/npUn221X4Ws

Buco · June 2023

https://djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/114665#Comment_114665

It's a blues changes IV chord. I suppose to sound like Django the easiest way is to see what he played and make a variation of that.

Phil · June 2023

I also love Fapy's laid-back version on his Star Eyes album. On which he plays a 1946 Selmer guitar #632!

MikeK · June 2023

Here's the chart my band uses:

I agree with Buco, the C7 can be seen as the IV chord if you see this as a blues in G. And the A7 can be seen either as the ii chord made into a dominant, or as the "V of the V", leading you to the D7. You also get a cool minor V-i in Emin in bars 11 and 12 (the relative minor of G) and a minor V-i in Amin in bars 26 thru 28. The soloing possibilities are limitless here, especially if the tempo is brought down a tad.

billyshakes · June 2023

When there is a song with lyrics, I often like to learn them as I learn the melody. It helps to cement the melody in my head and is often the basis for the melody in the first place. Many times now, soloists take liberties with the original melody but the lyrics help keep you on track.

In this case, the original lyrics are sort of questionable. I found versions of modern people singing to the original sheet music, but not any original recordings in my hasty search (you can search if you are interested, I won't post them here.) The original version actually had one of those intro stanzas that @Willie is so good at rooting out, but in this case is sort of boring. The core melody as played by most of us today and represented in the sheet music above by @MikeK is the heart of the song without these extra bits.

Here are some more modern "revised" lyrics that remove the questionable racist content from the original, along with a video of Julie Andrews singing them (more or less).

Oh, Limehouse kid

Oh, oh, oh, Limehouse kid

Goin' the way

That the rest of them did

Poor broken blossom

And nobody's child

Haunting and taunting

You're just kind of wild

Oh, Limehouse blues

I've the real Limehouse blues

Can't seem to shake off

Those real China blues